SO or at ag 


~ en, 


SERMON, 


PREACHED 
IN THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON, 


SABBATH EVENING, Dec. 16, 1821, 


BY THE 


REV. DANIEL TEMPLE, 


cated 


JUST BEFORE His DEPARTURE, 


AS A MISSIONARY 


TO 


WESTERN ASIA. 


BOSTON: 
CROCKER AND BREWSTER, PRINTERS, 
No. 50, Cornhill. 
1821. 


SERMON. 


Proverss iii, 27. 


Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in 
the power of thine hand to do it. 


Woe indigence involves our friends and neighbors 
in distress, the voice of nature and of common humanity 
calls to us for aid. The voice of nature and of Rey- 
elation harmoniously, demands that we should lend 
. our aid in alleviating the distresses of suffermg hu- 
manity. This obligation is distinctly recognized in 
the passage before us. If then an obligation rest on 
us to supply the temporal wants of men to the extent 
of our ability, is it not quite certain that we fall under 
still higher and more sacred obligations to supply their 
_ spiritual wants to the same extent? 

That is not a divine charity, which pours out all its 
_ solicitude upon the body, but never drops a tear nor 
utters a prayer for the undying soul. But that is a 
charity of heavenly birth, which longs and prays in- 
tensely for the salvation of the soul, which gives the 
Bible to them, who without it would not find their 
way to the kingdom of heaven; which takes them by 


4 


the hand, who sit in the region and shadow of death, 
and guides them to Him, who is the Light of the 
world. This is a divine, a noble charity. This is be- 
stowing good on them to whom it is due. 

The Bible does not leave us in doubt in reference 
to the extent or the object of our charity. The text. 
teaches us that our obligations to do good are com-- 
mensurate with our ability; that the power of doing 
good .imposes an obligation to do it. The charity 
recommended in our text undoubtedly embraces all 
the objects within the range of Christian benevolence, 
but as we cannot bring all these objects before us at 
present, it may be proper to limit our attention to one 
prominent object, viz.charity to the heathen, 

I shall endeavor to shew, 

1. That in sendmg to them the Gospel, we confer 
the most precious blessing. 

There was a time when man was permitted to en- 
joy the most familiar intercourse with God; when sin 
had not darkened his understanding nor perverted his 
heart. This was the primeval state of the human 
race, But the apostasy interrupted this happy inter- 
course and dreve our first parents away from the pres- 
ence of God. From this moment the human race 
began to exhibit evidence that they did not like to 
retain God in their knowledge. If our first parents 
and a few of their immediate descendants were, 
through the special favor of God, saved from the ruin 
to which they were exposed, it is evident that a crim- 
inal ignorance of God, that daring impiety and atheism, 
made rapid progress in the world, till the deluge 
swept away its inhabitants and their pollutions togeth- 
er. Enoch and Noah, and perhaps a few others, were 


5 


preachers of righteousness to the men of their times, 
_ but it is probable that only a few of the world’s nu- 
merous population ever heard their instructions. For 
reasons beyond our comprehension God was pleased 
to leave the world to grope on in darkness, with only 
some occasional revelations which he made to individ- 
uals. The dreadful catastrophe which ensued tells us 
into what depths of guilt men had soon fallen. We 
are not to suppose they had no instructions and no 
light. We know they had instruction and light 
enough to leave them without excuse for their sins. 
In that portion of sacred histery, which extends from 
the creation to the deluge, we find the most painful 
evidence, that where only the light of nature and the 
occasional light of partial revelations shine, there men 
will practise all the impieties that spring from athe- 
ism. For a short period after the deluge, the influ- 
ence of piety seems to have been partially felt in the 
family of Noah. The remembrance of that awful 
event, which had swept away the inhabitants of a 
whole world at once, doubtless contributed to nurture 
the partial fear of God, that was still cherished by the 
sons of Noah. Not many generations, however, had 
passed away, before the religion that came out of the 
ark with the father of the new world had. almost dis- 
appeared. 

Idolatry soon usurped the empire of religion. The 
luminaries of heaven, and the beasts and reptiles of 
the earth received the adoration, which Jehovah 
claims from all intelligent beings in the universe. As 
we advance from the deluge downwards through suc- 
ceeding ages the darkness and the horrors of idolatry 
thicken around us on every side, and we find no light 


6 


and nothing to cheer us amidst the deepening gloom, 
till we turn our eyes to that chosen people, to whom 
were communicated the lively oracles. And in many 
instances the contagion of idolatry infected this chosen 
people; but God sent his word and healed them. 
During the reign of ancient idolatry, a considerable 
number of men appeared on the theatre of the world, 
whose talents shed a lustre on human intellect, whose 
attainments in every department of learning were pro- 
found, who advanced some of the arts and seiences to 
a degree of excellence, that has never been surpassed, 
and seldom equalled; but all these high attainments 
left them still in idolatry. The wisdom of this world 
could boast of her Socrates and her Plato, her Cicero 
and her Seneca, but neither of these alone, nor all of 
them together, could write asystem of morals that would 
change the hearts and reform the lives of men. ‘The 
idolatry of the most renowned of these ancient sages 


was, by his own confession, as constant and as gross as 


that of the most ignorant of his countrymen. With 
all their high attamments in the wisdom and knowledge 
which secure immortal fame among men, neither of 
these sages had learned to love and adore the one God, 
who is the Creator of the world. And _ history will 
justify us in making a similar declaration concerning all 
the renowned pagans of ancient times. In many of 
the departments of human learning they are valuable 
lights: but on the whole subject of morals and religion 
their light is but darkness. 

In that short sermon delivered by our Divine Lord 
from the mountain, there is more light, there are 
better instructions, than you can gather from all the vol- 
umes ever written by pagans. The first promulgation 


= u 


re 


of Christianity produced a wonderful movement, an 
amazing effect; and this effect was the most cheer- 
ing and salutary. It did not kindle an enthusiasm, 
that lives and blazes and blasts for an hour,: and 
then dies to live no more. No; but it kindled a light 
that burst upon the night of paganism and displayed 
all its enormities and abominations in the glare of day. 
It gave men’s minds a shock that broke up prejudices 
as old as time, and as inveterate as guilt. It flashed a 
conviction of its truth ona thousand minds at once, and 
roused them from the slumbers and the vassallage of 
sin. Look at the whole pagan world at the moment 
when our divine Lord ascended to heaven! And what 
do you behold? A thousand temples, dedicated to as 
many deities, insulted the heavens in ail parts of the 
Roman empire. Within these temples crimes that 
must not be named, found a sanctuary. There stands 
the Delphic oracle uttering its flatteries and lies, and 
there are celebrated the yee mysteries, deeds, 
all of them, that shrink from the face of day and hide 
in the bosom of night. ey 

And what do I now behold? yonder comes a Gal- 
ilean! He approaches these temples and begins to 
preach Christ crucified! Where are now the shame- 
ful rites, the nameless crimes, that once had sanctuary 
there? Fled, driven away! The Delphic oracle is 
struck dumb, and the mysteries of Eleusina can be 
celebrated neither in the face of. day nor in the bo- 
som of night. The wisdom of philosophy could never 
banish idolaiey from a single village; but the foolish- 
ness of preaching swept it, with all its forms and mys- 
teries, from whole provinces. Nor was the destruction 
of idolatry the only or the principal effect, produced 


8 


by the foolishness of preaching. It constrained the 
pagans ina hundred cities to confess their deeds of 
darkness and guilt; it compelled them to burn their 
books of divination; it drew them away from the 
power of satan to God, and gave them promises and 
prospects, such as they had never heard nor seen. 
When the Apostles embarked in their mission among 
the Gentiles, a desert was before them forbidding and 
cheerless; but, urged by the command of their Al- 
mighty Sovereign, they went forth and scattered over 
it the seed of life, and lived themselves to see a harvest 
richer than the fruits of Eden wave on its landscape. 
Yes, in spite of all the opposition that was put in array 
against it, Christianity marched on from conquering to 
conquer till its triumphs were multiplied from one end 
of the Roman empire to the other. 

The wisdom of this world had long, but in vain, at- 
tempted to change the hearts and check the vices of 
men. The experiment had been fairly made durmga 
period of almost four thousand years, and the result 
plainly proved, that the wisdom of this world will 
never lead men to the knowledge nor to the worship 
of God. But the preaching of the Gospel produced an 
immediate, a powerful effect, such as all the charms 
of poetry, eloquence and philosophy combined could 
never produce. It meliorated the condition of man, 
it gave a new and beauteous aspect to the world. It 
brought men to an acquaintance with God; it taught 
them definitely their duties and their destinies; it told 
them of their ruin and pointed to their remedy. Cast- 
ing our eye over the long tract of time from Adam till 
the deluge, and from the deluge till the coming of 
Christ, and marking the crimes and the idolatry that 


9 


prevailed before the Gospel was preached, and the 
happy change, and the prodigious improvement every 
where effected by the preaching of the Gospel, shall 
we not be constrained to say, blessed is the people that 
Know the joyful sound! And shall we not think and 
say and feel too, that in sending the Gospel to the 
heathen of our own times we impart to them the most 
precious blessing? But let us now proceed toshow, 

2. That our ability tosend them the Gospel, confers 
an obligation to send it. 

We are under no obligations to the inhabitants of 
those planets that shine and roll above and around 
us, through the fields of immensity. We are under no 
obligations to the dead that sleep in the dwellings of 
silence, for Providence has placed the former and the 
latter beyond the reach of our benevolence. But not 
so the heathen. No matter where they live, wheth- 
eron the line or at the poles, whether they inhabit 
an island or acontinent, the Author of our religion has 
taught us that they are our neighbors, and commerce 
and navigation have furnished us the means of imparting 
to them our charities. On the high road of nations 
we can easily visit the spot, “where first the sun gilds 
Indian mountains, or where his setting beam flames on 
the Atlantic wave;” we can visit the Hottentot dozing 
in his den, or the Esquimaux, that quivers with the 
cold in his smoky hut. Navigation has brought 
the remotest parts of the globe almost within our 
neighborhood. It has made us familiar with islands 
and nations, that were once shut away from us by the 
barriers of the ocean. ‘These facilities give us the 
power of sending the Gospel to the Hottentot and the 


Hindoo, to the inhabitants of Greenland and New Hol- 
2 


10 


land, with the same expense that we must incur im 
sending it to the natives of our own wilderness. We 
cannot then plead the want of facilities to do good to 
all the nations as an apology for neglecting them. Nor 
shall we find indigence enough in our country to fur- 
nish an apology for the same neglect. If other na- 
tions can boast of greater wealth than has yet dis- 
tinguished our country, it is certain that no nation un- 
der heaven has ever been visited by a tide of prosper- 
ity so deep and so rapid as that, which for a long time 
has been rolling through our land. Can we then with 
such ample means and such precious facilities for eyan- 
gelizmg the world allow ourselves to slumber a mo- 
ment, while our alms and our energies should all be 
employed in this sacred enterprise? ; 

Avarice has never lost an hour in slumber and 
dreams. She avails herself of every facility to en- 
large her possessions. And blessed be God, a day will 
come when Benevolence will cease to slumber and 
dream; when she will sail from every port, and carry 
her blessings round the world. And it is time she 
were awake already! Death the triumphant conquer- 
or is annually carrying away hundreds of thousands of 
our race beyond her reach. What we do for the 
heathen must be done soon. . 

3. Let us now glance at the motives and encourage- 
ments that urge to the duty we are contemplating. 

We have already seen that the greatest blessing 
we can confer on the heathen is to send them the 
Gospel, and that the means and facilities for doing 
this are all at our command. The solemn command 
of our Divine Lord, “Go ye into all the world and 
preach the Gospel toevery creature,” stands to this day 


1] 


unrevoked. The lapse of eighteen hundred years has 
detracted nothing from the import of this command, 
and given us no exemption from the duty it imposes. 
If every creature needed the Gospel then,so does every 
creature need it now. Not one argument could be 
urged for preaching the Gospel then, that cannot be 
urged with equal force for preaching it now. If it be 
said that miracles attended the first promulgation of 
the Gospel, I reply, that in ten thousand instances mir- 
acles did not convince men that the Gospel was a di- 
vine dispensation, and that they never in a single in- 
stance changed the human heart. It was then the 
simple preaching of the Gospel, that was the wisdom 
of God and the power of God to salvation. After all 
the miracles they exhibited, the Apostles found many 
who could, and did, effectually resist the benevolent 
counsels of God towards them. They found 
many too, who did not, and could not, resist the 
force of their appeals, who listened cheerfully to their 
instructions and became obedient to the faith. Similar 
effects have been observed in later times, where the 
Gospel has been preached unattended by miracles. No 
well authenticated miracles are recorded of a later 
date than the second or third century, but since that 
period the Gospel has been preached with great suc- 
cess in kingdoms and countries, where its sound had 
not before been heard. ‘The absence of miracles then 
does not nullify the command nor diminish the induce- 
ments to send the Gospel to the heathen. A compli- 
ance with this duty gives scope to the noblest feelings 
of philanthropy, and consequently secures exalted hap- 
piness. It is painful to contemplate the thousand 
wrong sources, to which the attention of men has 


12 


been directed with the hope of finding happiness. The 
covetous man hopes to find it m grasping the riches 
that take to themselves wings and fly away. The 
scholar hopes to find it in ranging through the bound- — 
less fields of knowledge; and the conqueror hopes to — 
find it in seeing half a world pay him the homage of 
submission. But in all these diferent instances the 
happiness is but a vanishing shadow, a happiness 
transient in its nature, and dying almost in the moment 
of its birth. Ask the covetous man if all his hoarded 
wealth can roll one wave of happiness into his bosom, 
when death has come and is bearing him away, where 
the rich and the poor sleep undistinguished in silence. 
Ask the scholar what happiness he gathers from the 
field of learning, when he approaches that world, 
where all the flattering distinctions that obtain among — 
men are unknown. Ask the conqueror, when he is 
sinking into the grave from his throne of royalty, what 
happiness he finds in the remembrance of all his vieto- 
ries and greatness. And what will be the reply of 
them all? All with one voice will tell you that all these 
things are vanity of vanities and yvexation of spirit. 
Let us now ask the venerable Apostle when his toils 
and perils and journies among the Gentiles were past, 
and his earthly career was drawing to a close, what 
were his feelings, when he remembered the labors 
that were past, and what his anticipations, when he 
glanced at the reward that was future. Listen to his 
declaration: I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course and kept the faith, and henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness. No unweleome 
reflection tells him at the end of his life, that he has 
been playing with a toy that must now be thrown 


13 


away forever: he is not compelled to feel and ac- 
knowledge, that he had been panting after a shadow. 
and grasping at the wind. He was happy in perform- 
ing his works of faith and labors of love among the 
Gentiles, and he was happy when his work was done, 

The scholar, the covetous man, and the conqueror, 
may each have known a temporary glow of happiness 
at every successful period of his life; but neither of 
them in his favorite pursuits could find a happiness 
that fairly claims kindred with that, which Paul found 
in propagating Christianity among the Gentiles. A 
happiness allied to that, which cheered the last hours 
of Paul may be anticipated by all those, who piously 
aid in-sending the Gospel to the heathen. 

For our encouragement in this noble enterprise we 
ought to mark the progress and the success of Chris- 
tian missions both in ancient and modern times. 

Eighteen hundred years ago the light of Christianity 
shone only on the little province of Judea, and the 
darkness of gentilism enveloped all the other portions 
of the globe. But previously to the death of the 
Apostles, Christian missions had kindled a great light 
from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum, a circle of 
more thana thousand miles in diameter. For the truth 
of this account I refer you to the Bible. From the most 
authentic human records we are assured that within a 
few centuries from the advent of our Savior, Christian 
missionaries found their way into the East Indies, into 
Abyssinia, and into almost all parts of Europe, and 
that in all these various places and among all these 
different nations, they preached the Gopel with aston- 
ishing success. Had we time, it would be delightful 
to go back to the birth of Christianity and see it ris- 


> 


14 


ing up and advancing in the world, like an island just 
emerging from the bosom of the deep, rising and ex- 
tending, till at last it stretches out into the latitude and 
longitude of a mighty continent. But passing with 
this slight notice over a long tract of ages, let us stop 
a moment and glance at the progress of missions dur- 
ing the last half of the eighteenth, and the commence- 
ment of the nineteenth century. Here, my friends, 
a scene opens to the eye of Christian benevolence that 
demands a better tribute than a grateful tear. Within 
the period just mentioned, that splendid galaxy of the 
Christian world, the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
the London, the Church, and the Baptist Missionary 
Society of England, the Methodist Missionary Society, 
the Edinburg Missionary Society, the American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the Bap- 
tist Board in America, have all had their birth, and 
all of them are prosecuting their great enterprise 
with mereasing patronage and encouraging prospects. 
These are so many light-houses erected in the 
moral world to direct its mariners on their passage to 
eternity. But, does any one ask what have all these 
societies accomplished? They have raised the doz- 
ing Hottentot from his filthy den to the comforts and 
decencies of civilized man; they have done more; 
they have raised him to the elevation, the dignity, and 
the happiness of a Christian. Yes, they have taught 
the poor Hottentot, that once worshipped a creeping 
insect, to worship the Almighty God. The savage 
Africaner, that was more terrible than the tyger and 
the lion of the desart, is subdued by the Gospel into the 
ineekness of a Christian and bows with the missionary 
to weep over his sins and adore the God of mercy. 


15 

Onward still Christianity is marching in Africa with a 
triumph that confounds infidelity and carries joy and 
gladness to the bosom of benevolence. 

From Africa glance your eye at the islands in the 
South sea! Less than thirty years ago Otaheite and 
the isles in its neighborhood, were the home of sava- 
ges and cannibals. There was neither the sound nor 
the sembiance of piety to charm the ear or the eye. 
The natives indulged in theft, debauchery and murder, 
with scarcely any impression that these are crimes. 
To these islands charity sent her missionaries. And 
dark and gloomy indeed was their prospect! But 
faith and hope sustained them, and urged them for- 
ward. After fifteen years of toil and disappointment, — 
they began to reap the fruit of their labors by seeing 
the heart of the king apparently subdued by the 
preaching of the Gospel. Then the day dawned on 
those islands and rolled the darkness of night away! 
Where are now the idols of Otaheite? The king has 
sent them as curiosities to Europe. Now temples 
dedicated to the living God are erected in all parts of 
hisdominions. The public devotion and solemn still- 
ness that mark the first day of the week tell the 
visiting stranger that Christianity has come to bless 
these isles of the ocean. 

And what shall we say of Greenland? That was 
a country of fierce and starving savages, till missiona- 
ries trod her barren and frozen shores. As the fruit 
of their labors, a considerable portion of Greenland 
now enjoys the ordinances and the other attendant 
blessings of Christianity. 

India with her swarming millions begins to see a 
few beams of celestial light fall on her mountains and 


z 16 


plains. By preaching, and its powerful auxiliary, the 
press, the missionaries are rapidly preparing the way, — 
in the very heart of India, for the ultimate triumphs of 
Christianity over all those populous regions in the 
east. Much has been done already. The ancient 
fabric of paganism there is shaken, and totters, we 
hope, to its fall. 

Rites and ceremonies, rendered venerable by im- 
memorial usage, are beginning to be abandoned. 
Brahmins have thrown away their Vedas and Shas- 
ters and now take the Scriptures as the oracles of God. 
Females, once doomed to vassallage and ignorance 
begin to rejoice in their freedom, and hail the blessings 
of Christian knowledge. Children, that once spent 
their time in idleness and vice, are now collected in 
schools to acquire the rudiments of useful learning. 
The last twenty-five years have given a new 
and cheering aspect to British India; and the system 
of benevolent operations, still in motion in that coun- 
try, Opens a prospect rich in promise. Christianity 
has already, to a considerable extent, quenched the 
flames of the funeral pile; it has saved a i = Ib 
fants from perishing in the Ganges. 

In tracing the progress of Shrdéas missions on the 
great map of the world, we must not pass unnoticed 
the wilderness of our own country. Not many years 
ago a chief of one of the Indian tribes, who had him- 
self become a Christian under the labors of a pious mis- 
sionary, burst into this touching and eloquent lament- 
ation, when he learned that their Jands had been clan- 
destinely sold tothe white men: “Where are now the 
chiefs of the rising sun? White, chiefs now kindle 
their ancient fires! ‘There no Indian sleeps, but those 


17 


that sleep in the grave. My warriors and my chil- 
dren, it is very hard; this is a dark day to Oneida! 
Soon our fires shall be put out! Our eyes rain like 
the black cloud that roars through the tops of the 
trees!” And when this venerable chief died, he de- 
sired his body might be laid by the side of his good 
minister, that, as he said, he might go up with him at 
the great resurrection. When he uttered this lam- 
entation and wept over his own tribe, little commis- 
eration was felt for Indians by white men. The poor 
wanderers m the wilderness were compelled to say, “I 
looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no 
man that would know me; refuge failed me; no man 
cared for my soul!” Blessed be God, those daysare gone! 
The scene is changed. Charity now remembers the 
children of the wilderness, and listens to their imploring 
voice. ‘Ten thousand hearts and hands are impatient 
to bless them. ‘The sound of the Gospel begins to 
echo among them in many directions, and the sacred 
songs of Zion now burst along where once nothing was 
heard but the roaring of winds and the howling of 
beasts. . 

At the Sandwich Islands we have recently seen a 
nation cast away their godsat once. There our breth-— 
ren have seen with agonized hearts the ashes and the 
bones of human victims, which paganism had sacri- 
ficed on her altars. But paganism is retiring from 
those islands, and Christianity is pushing her conquests 
and setting up her ensigns there. 

With all these facts before us, can we want more 
encouragement? Well, we shall find additional en- 
couragement in the promises of revelation. Does not 
the Bible tell us, that the kingdom and the dominion, 

3 


18 


and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole 
heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of 

the most high God? And that from the rising of the 

sun to the going down thereof, incense and a pure 

offering shall be presented to the Lord? 

And has gratitude no demands on us? Where is a 
blessing which the Gospel has not thrown into our 
possession? What has chased the darkness of pagan- 
ism from our landscape? Why do I not see in your 
venerable cemeteries the ashes of the funeral pile, in- 
stead of the modest tombstone that stands there? 
Why doT not see the broken hearted orphan return- 
ing to an unpitying world from the pile where both its 
parents have been consumed, instead of seeing chil- 
dren, that are cheerful and happy around a praying 
mother, who has seen the friend and companion of her 
youth sink to his home in the grave? Why are we not 
assembled in some idol’s temple instead of bowing im 
this venerable church of the living God? The Gos- 
pel—the Gospel—has chased away the mght of pa- 
ganism, and poured on us the day-spring from on high! 
The Gospel has reared the churches of God in our 
land, and inspired the prayers and hymns of praise, 
that echo along their sacred walls! But—was the 
Gospel designed for us only? Does it bear on its pages 
no light, no blessing, and no promise for the heathen? 
Does it call you, Christian brethren, to the house of 
God, and there give you an anticipation of heaven in 
the fervors of devotion; does it tell you that after a 
few years, you shall rise to a companionship with 
patriarchs and prophets, and apostles, in the kingdom 
of heaven; and then drop an intimation that you may 
innocently forget the heathen, and leave them perish- 


19 


ing in darkness? No—no, if we have imbibed the spirit 
of the Gospel, gratitude will compel us to resolve that 
we will not enjoy these blessings alone! Gratitude de- 
mands our labors and our sacrifices, that all kingdoms 
and countries may be blessed with the voice of him, 
whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains, who 
bringeth good tidings, who publisheth peace, and saith 
unto Zion thy God reigneth. 

We have thus far confined our attention to the 
heathen; let us now glance at the Greeks and Jews. 

In the Greek church, though there is a chaos of su- 
perstition and darkness, still there do remain a few 
glimmerings of Christian light. Dwelling as she does 
in the midst of her enemies, and enjoying no other hu- 
man protection but that of tyranny, her prospects have 
for a long time been dreary, and her very existence has 
often been threatened. For along time it has not 
been in her power to command the adequate means" 
of Christian instruction, and consequently, ignorance 
and vice have invaded her communities. 

At the present moment there is reason to fear her 
religion is little better than Paganism with a Chris- 
tianname. She has indeed dismissed the ancient idols 
and deities of Paganism, but she retains in their stead 
the pictures of Christ and his Apostles. 

It is only the diffusion of Christian light, that will 
restore her ancient purity, and clear away the mists 
and clouds that have gathered around her. She has 
her seat on the very ground, which was once the Eden 
of Christendom; she inhabits the very region, which 
once heard the yoice of the Apostles, and now em- 
bosoms their dust. ‘To this ancient church we cannot 


20 


but direct our attention with more than ordinary in- 
terest. 

A revival of religion and learning there, must be 
hailed by every Christian and every philanthropist, 
as an event of the most auspicious aspect. But such 
a revival cannot be anticipated, till some foreign aid 
shall encourage and strengthen the little religion and 


learning still struggling there between life and death. 


At the mention of the Jews a thousand emotions of 
sacred and solemn import are awakened in every 
pious bosom. At the mention of them, the mind is 
instantly hurried back to Abraham and Moses, to Da- 
vid and Daniel, to the Apostles, and, especially, to him 
who is the Root and Offspring of David, the bright 
and morning Star. At the mention of them all the 
ancient scenes of the Promised Land rush upon us; 
but all these scenes rise before us accompanied by the 
pensive remembrance that the harp of David is silent 
and the glory of Israel is gone! 

Oh Judah, son of the morning, how art thou fallen! 
Eighteen centuries have seen the children of Abra- 
ham wandering, forsaken and friendless, in a strange 


» 


land! Within this period Christianity has diffused her 


blessings among millions of the Gentiles; but peace 


and gladness, and joy, have forsaken the dwellings of 
Jacob!—But—does there not remain a rest, a glorious 
rest, for this ancient people of God? Yes; we trust 
the forty and two months, in which their holy city 
was to be trodden down by the Gentiles, will soon be 
gone. 

Signs of the most benignant aspect upon the Jews 
announce to us the approach of their conversion. 


21 
Already they are beginning to come in with the fal- 
ness of the Gentiles. And it is not in the visions of 
fancy, nor in the dreams of enthusiasm, that we dis- 
cern the approach of their enlargement.—It.1s in the 
recorded testimony of Jehovah, that we discern the 
solid and sober reality of their conversion—To doubt 
this, would be infidelity; to believe this, and still re- 
main silent and motionless, would be nothing better 
than impiety. 

Our debt of gratitude to them has long been ac- 
-  cumulating, and now piety and Providence unite 
' their demand, that it be discharged. Their fall gave 
"us our elevation. When the heralds of heavenly 
mercy went forth in a thousand directions amongst the 
Gentiles, then the sound and the march of desolation 
were heard and seen through the Promised Land. 

A longand chcerless night settled on the Jews at 
the very moment, when the Light of the world rose 
upon the Gentiles. And shall we, can we, forget 
them. Paul has intimated that through our mercy 
they shall hereafter obtain mercy. 

The same arguments, motives, and encouragements, 
which should induce us to remember the heathen, 
forbid that we forget the Greeks, and the Jews in 
Palestine and Western Asia. We do not expect, we 
cannot hope to see, a great moral change effected in 
those countries at once. The progress of the refor- 
mation from popery was gradual; but it has ultimate- 
ly given a new face to Christendom. 

The friends and patrons of the contemplated mission 
and printing establishment in Western Asia will think 
themselves happy, if they may be permitted inany hum- 
ble measure to aid the diffusion of evangelical light 


22 


there, and thus to revive religion and learning in that 
country which was the birth-place of Christianity. The 
liberality displayed by the friends and patrons of this 
new enterprise, which owes its origin to the benevo- 
lence of individuals in this town, is recorded in hea- 
ven we trust, as au acceptable memorial of them 
before God. As my countrymen I congratulate them, 
and as Christian philanthropists and benefactors, I ten- ° 
der them my most grateful acknowledgments. May 
the utility of this enterprise equal, and more than equal, 
the distinguished benevolence of its patrons. : 

About to embark in the contemplated mission ~ 


to Palestine, your candor will permit me to express” 


some of the emotions which are awakened | in i 
bosom by this occasion. 

Ie has not the feelings of a Christian, he has not 
the feelings of a man, who can, without one tear, or 
one regret, leave, in their advanced age, the parents, 
who protected and guided him through the days of 
infancy, and, in his maturer years, gave him their 
united counsels and prayers. He has not the 
feelings of a Christian and of a patriot, who can 
see his native place and his country fade and die 
away for ever from his sight without one saddening 
emotion. Love to our kindred and country is the 
native feeling of all our hearts. To this feeling, 
strengthened by time and reflection, my bosom is no 
stranger. The country and the friends I am leaving, 
I shall love toremember, when my home shall be na 
strange land. I shall love to remember them, till death 
shall give me a dismissal from this world. If itis 
Christian benevolence that calls me into a strange 


23 


land, surely such a benevolence will prompt a thousand 
prayers for the salvation of my own countrymen. Is 
there in this assembly an individual, who is not recon- 
ciled to God? Then let me, with affectionate tender- 
ness intreat him to seek in the atonement of Christ an 
asylum for his soul. On the rapid current of time we 
are borne irresistibly along towards those realities, 
which are at present concealed from us in the bosom 
of eternity. They are momentous realities, though, 
at present, unseen. The lapse of a few days or 
years will disclose them all to our astonished vis- 
ion, and teach us that piety, vital piety, is the only 
substantial solace and hope of man: and, that all be- 
sides is a transient shadow, a dying sound! In relig- 
ion you may find a friend to cheer your dying pillow, 
to give you light in the darkness of death and a crown 
of immortality in heaven! May you all find such a 
friend and such an immortality. 

This evening calls me to take leave of my country, 
my friends and patrons, with only a dim _ prospect of 
ever seeing them again. Endeared, however, as 
they are to the best feelings of my heart, I can leaye 
them, I do leave them, cheerfully, with the hope of 
greater usefulness in another and a distant country. 
To the favor and protection of God I now commend 
them; and while one pious feeling shall have place 1 in 
my bosom, without ceasing I eal make mention of 
them in my prayers toGod. I hear a voice, that bids 
me arise and go hence, and I bow with joyful submis- 
sion to the command. 

My beloved country—blessed with an enlightened 
and equitable government, that knows no parallel on. 


earth-Bleseed with copious ne . 
blessed with the ministers and t 
ligion—uy_ BELOVED cotetan aa 
ienonibes reer in een eee 


ws 


Farewell 
f 
ithe 
Loa) 
t 
s 
uth 
an ened nee 
£3 es ‘abide i th 
2 ee ogi 
eee oe 2d tf ; 
fe las mn ee 


ig ee 


INSTRUCTIONS 


OF THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF €0M« 
MISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, TO THE REV. DANIEL TEMPLE, 
MISSIONARY TO WESTERN ASIA, DELIVERED IN THE OLD SOUTIT 
CHURCH, BOSTON, SABBATH EVENING, DEC. 16, 1821. 


—— 


Rev. ann Dear Sir, 


As the organ of the Prudential Committee, and by their ap> 
pointment, I would now solicit your attention to some instructions, 
which they deem proper to be delivered on the present occasion. 

You are about to leave your native country, and to be engaged 
in a work difficult, arduous, uncertain as to its immediate progress, 
though no wise doubtful in regard to its finalissue. You have bid- 
den farewell to the associates of your early years;—to the paternal 
roof, under which are formed many of the tenderest, the strongest, 
and the most durable attachments;—to the sanctuary, where in in- 
fancy you were dedicated to God, and where, after having arrived 
to years of maturity, and after full deliberation, you professed 
your faith in Christ as the only Savior;—to the school of the 
prophets, in which, for a series of years, you studied theology, the 
sublimest of the sciences, and aspired after proficiency in the- 
noblest of the arts,—that which might enable you to proclaim 
most effectually the message of salvation:—and here, this evening, 
you have bidden farewell to many of your Christian brethren, who 
haye statedly contributed of their property, for the support of the 
mission to which youare to be attached, and whose prayers ascend 
continually for a blessing upon you and your fellow-laborers, At 
such a time, you cannot but receive with peculiar interest any 
suggestions, which our solicitude for your success, or our respon- 
sibility as agents and almoners of the Christian public, may prompt 
us to offer, 


4 


26 


in accordance with arrangements made for your passage, you 
will soon embark for the Mediterranean, with the design of spend- 
ing your life as a missionary in Western Asia. That part of the 
world being at present in an unsettled state, it is deemed expedi- 
ent that you seek a temporary residence at Malta. In this great 
resort of foreigners, holding direct and frequent communications 
with Europe, Africa, and Asia, you will possess great advantages 
for acquiring languages necessary to your ulterior designs, and for 
gaining some useful knowledge of the people whom you may sub- 
sequently visit. There you will find at least a few, whose hearts 
will respond to every sentiment of exalted charity, and who will 
hail with lively joy every coadjutor in the divine work of spread- 
ing the Gospel. With these men, and others of similar character 
elsewhere, you will not fail to cultivate a free and cordial inter- 
course. 

The cheerful co-operation of Christians, though of different 
nations and churches, in a grand effort for the conversion of the 
world, is one of the most delightful subjects of contemplation; 
and will be found at last to have contributed, more than almost 
any thing else, to the desired result. 

The languages, of which you will endeavor, as soon as possible, 
to attain a competent knowledge, are the Modern Greek and the 
Arabic. This you will do without neglecting any of the principal 
languages-of southern Europe, or western Asia. Count not the 
time lost, while you are employed upon these studies. You will 
learn, at the same time, many things indispensably necessary, as a 
preparation for your more active labors. By an intimate personal 
acquaintance with select individuals, by epistolary correspondence, 
and by attentive observation of whatever can be interesting to you 
as a Christian and a missionary, you will aim at being thoroughly 
qualified for your high vocation. 

Whenever the political state of the Ottoman empire shall be- 
come so tranquil, that you can remove to Asia Minor without ap- 
prehension, and enter without impediment upon those duties of a 
religious teacher, which are of a more silent and unobtrusive char- 
acter, you will take up your residence at Smyrna; and there enter 
into the labors of your brethren, Messrs. Fisk and Parsons, who 
will then, as we hope, have advanced into the interior, to pursue 
the work of evangelists in the Holy Land. 

By the liberality of a few individuals you carry a Press, conse- 
crated to the dissemination of divine truth through a vast region, 


27 


now lying im ignorance and spiritual death. As the manner in 
which this design originated marks an advancement in charitable 
exertions of the noblest kind; and as the success, which attends 
the enterprise, may have a great influence upon plans of the same 
general character hereafter;—you will considera discreet, yet ac- 
tive and efficacious, use of the press a subject ef high importance, 
not to your mission only, but to the cause of missions, and of Chris- 
tianity. 

Who does not know that the art of printing is the greatest of 
human inventions? If regarded merely as an instrument of refine- 
ment and civilization,—of intellectual improvement,—and of se- 
curing and preserving liberty, the highest strains of eloquence 
would be poured forth in its praise. Butit is destined to a nobler 
use, than any which is confined in its operation. to this world. 
Next to the living voice of the earnest and affectionate preacher, 
it is to become the most powerful mean of diffusing the knowledge 
of the Gospel, of awakening a dead world to spiritual life, and of 
glorifying God by honoring the revelation of his will. How 
_ email are the objects of orators, and poets,—of moralists and leg- 
islators, compared with the renovation and salvation of a single 
soul? What are the embellishments of human society, the gratifi- 
cation of curiosity, or of taste, toa mind deeply intent on recover- 
ing a lost world to God and holiness,—on raising up, from the ruins 
of the apostasy, heirs of immortality, children of God, trophies of 
the Redeemer’s sacrifice? To establish the liberties of a nation is 
deemed a great achievement; and so indeed it is, comparing mere- 
ly temporal things with each other. How great a cause of ex- 
ultation is it, then, to liberate immortal beings from the bondage 
of sin, and lead them forth from their prison house to the enjoy- 
ment of pure and heavenly freedom? To this high and holy min- 
istration the press will hereafter be more devoted than it has 
ever yet been. The time will arrive when it shall be no more 
the pander of vice, the apologist of crime, the incentive to pollu- 
tion, the instrument of sophistry and error. In those favored 
days, HOLINESS TO THE LorD will be inscribed, as with a sun-beam, 
on every page, 

So far as you may be intrusted with the management of the 
mission press, let this sublime destination be held continually in 
view. Letit be your constant aim, that when the truths of relig- 


28 


ion are professedly taught, nothing but pure, plain, simple truth 
should be found;—evangelical truth, unsophisticated by buman 
additions, unimpaired by retrenchments, the suggestions ef human 
wisdom, unincumbered with human philosophy in any form, but 
supported by the veracity of God, and certainly to be accomplished 
by his power and his faithfulness. Let your standard be high, in 
regard to the purity and tendency of whatever you permit to be 
published. We have no fears, indeed, that you, or your brethren, 
will ever consent, that a press furnished in so disinterested a man- 
ner, and for so excellent a design, should be desecrated, by being 
applied to any unworthy purpose. It is not enough, however, 
that positive evil be avoided; let eminent good be done. Let the 
character to which you aspire in this department of your labors 
be such, that, could you be transported, by a happy anticipation, 
into the full blaze of the millennial day, you would have no occa- 
sion to blush for the motives which prompted, or the effects which 
followed your publications. he 

The field before you is extensive and inviting. You ae not 
be compelled, like many of your brethren in different régions, — 
first to forma written language, and then, beginning at the ele- 
ments, to create for yourself a reading population. Around the 
whole circuit of the Mediterranean, multitudes are able to read, 
and vastly greater multitudes are desirous of learning. The 
Greeks, particularly, are inquisitive, apt to learn, and fond of pos- 
sessing books. Some of them have knowledge enough very 
earnestly to covet more; and all, so far as our information extends, 
are willing to be taught. They are in just such a state as emi- 
nently to need instruction. Accustomed to reverence the Chris- 
tian name, and to suffer many indignities and privations on account 
of their profession, they need the supports and consolations of 
genuine Christianity. The pure and simple doctrines of the 
New Testament, if fairly and steadily presented to the mind, will 
chase away the phantoms of superstition, which have been sialk- 
ing abroad, during so many ages of darkness. 

The exertions of the British and Foreign Bible Society em- 
brace so wide a range, that a press is not primarily demanded in 
Western Asia, for the publication of the Scriptures entire; though 
it may probably hereafter be usefully and profitably employed for 
this purpose. Butat present, and during the first stages of relig- 
ious inquiry, select portions of the Scriptures, printed in such 


29 


quantities as to be very extensively distributed, promise to answer’ 
a valuable end, by attracting notice, and preparing the way for 
complete copies of the Bible. Short tracts, also, expressing the 
great truths of the Gospel in the words of Scripture, may be reck- 
oned among the most effectual means of exciting attention, and 
leading to the demand for direct personal labors. School books, 
formed upon the principles of unadulterated Christianity, with the 
design of early imbuing the mind with heavenly truth; and intro- 
ducing, at the same time, all the modern improvements ia rudi- 
mental learning, must be of inestimable value to such a people as 
we are contemplating. 

If the mission, in which you are to be employed, were regarded 

only in the light of conferring temporal benefits, the philosopher, 
the political economist, the philanthropist, would be bound to ap- 
prove and applaud it. What then will the Christian say, when 
he sees in prospect the rising generation trained up in the fear of 
God, and early taught to receive and love the Savior;—when he 
contemplates the effect of the full and faithful annunciation of the 
Gospel, accompanied, as we may hope it will be, with the energies 
of the life-giving Spirit? To the mind of the philosopher such a 
prospect appears visionary; and so it doubtless would be, if it 
were expected that ignorant, dissolute, and barbarous nations 
were to be reformed, enlightened, and converted by human 
agency alone. ‘This is not expected. But, for an exhibition of 
-what divine truth is able to accomplish, when brought to bear 
upon the hearts and consciences of men, however previously for- 
tified by ignorance, superstition, and even gross wickedness, look 
at the effect of preaching in the days of the Apostles and their 
immediate successors. Similar eflects were produced in Germany, 
France, Switzerland, Great Britain, and several other nations of 
Europe, at the period of the Reformation. After what has been 
recently witnessed by missionaries in Greenland, in the Society 
Islands, and at Sierra Leone, there is no difficulty in conceiving 
how the work of conversion may proceed, whenever God shall 
see fit to interpose in behalf of the nations. That he will thus in- 
terpose is manifest from the promises of his word, and the import 
of his general command to preach ihe Gospel to every creature. 

You will naturally inquire, What can I do, single or with a 
small band of brethren, against the giant forms of wickedness, 
which have so long trampled upon the heritage of Jehovah, and 


30 


desolated some of the fairest portions of the globe? With the di- 
vine presence and blessing you may do much, and may have the 
honor and privilege of preceding other faithful laborers who shall 
do more, till the march of truth shall be unresisted and irresistible, 
and grateful countries shall celebrate the commencement of your 
mission as the dawn of religious light after a long and troubled 
period of darkness. The true missionary does not wait for the as- 
surance of any particular degree of success to his personal minis- 
trations. He knows that, in any event, he isa mere instrument 
in the hands of the great Master-builder,—a humble though vol- 
untary organ of communicating the divine beneficence to the 
guilty and suffering children of men. In this office he will rejoice, 
without being solicitous to choose in what part of the work his 
feeble agency shall be used. He who labors in obscurity, remoy- 
ing the rubbish of fifteen centuries, and those who earry up the 
walls of the spiritual edifice, and their successors who lay the top- 
stone in its destined position, will at last join in the triumphant 
shout of Grace, grace, on the completion of this illustrious monu- 
ment of Infinite Wisdom, erected by the conspiring labors of holy 
men through succeeding ages. 

To many it might seem strange, that Christian missionaries 
should be sent from the New World to the Old;—from this asylum 
of modern pilgrims to the lands of patriarchs and prophets, apos- 
tles and martyrs;—a land in which true religion was divinely re- 
vealed,—over which the personal ministry of the immaculate 
Savior shed a peculiar sanctity,—and whence, after he had made 
an atonement for the sins of the world, and finished the work 
which had been given him to do, he ascended to Heaven. And 
when they read of the institutions of Christianity as there existing; 
—of numerous ecclesiastics;—of churches, and other buildings 
dedicated to religion;—of schools and various apparatus of learn- 
ing, it seems unnecessary for Christians in this country to send 
religious teachers thither. 

But, my dear Sir, before you ever thought of dedicating your- 
self to this service, you were well persuaded of the urgent and im- 
perious call for the aid of our churches, in attempting to repair the 
ruins of many generations. You are well aware that Christianity 
can be little more than a name, where the Scriptures are not pos- 
sessed at all by the people, nor by the clergy in the vernacular 
Janguages; where, from time immemorial], the priests haye had 


31 


but few copies in any language, and the immense majority, even 
of the ministers of religion, never had a Bible at their command 
for a single day;—where not one in fifty of the clergy ever at- 
tempis to preach the Gospel;—where the people do not know 
what the preaching of the Gospel is;—where the religious ob- 
servances have sunk into mere forms, consisting of prayers in an 
unknown language, and of the worship of saints; where the schools 
are used principally to train boys for the church, so that they may 
merely be able to read prayers, which they themselves do not 
understand; and where no Sabbath brings with it the stillness, 
and the solemnity of a day set apart for the service of God, and 
consecrated to preparation for heaven. If piety can exist in such 
a state of things, it lies buried under a mass of ignorance and form- 
ality which needs to be removed, and for the removal of which 
none will be so grateful as those, who are now oppressed by its 
weight. But piety cannot flourish in any place, unless the Gospel 

‘is fully and plainly and publicly preached from Sabbath to Sab- 
bath; nor will it be likely to flourish, for any length of time, un- 
less, in addition to preaching, the Bible be placed in the hands of 
the common people. Here, then, behold the grand aim of mis- 
sions, so far as means and instruments are concerned. It is to 
preach the Gospel to every creature, to place the Word of Life in 
the hands of every immortal being. 

There is one point of view in which the forms of Christianity, 
as existing in Western Asia, and neighboring parts of Europe and 
Africa, are to be regarded with a lively interest. They furnish 
the missionary with means of access to the clergy and the people. 
They afford a ground of immediate intercourse. ‘They cause his 
benevolent errand to be understood; and, ifhe is disereet and pru- 
dent, he may without offence seize hold of some cardinal truth, 
which will be acknowledged, and from which he can unfold and 
explain the Christian system. 

It should be mentioned also, and with expressions of gratitude, 
that the attempts of Protestant Christendom to enlighten these 
regions have been hailed with joy by the mingled people, who are 
principally to be benefitted. The reception, with which Mr. Con- 
nor, Mr. Jowett, and others; actuated by a like spirit, were every 
where met, gives decisive evidence on this subject. Were other 
testimony requisite, you have it in the journals and narratives of 
your beloved brethren, Messrs. Parsons and Fisk, who. for a year 


32 


and three quarters, have been seeking information on this very 
point. Previously to the last intelligence, they had been distrib- 
uting the Scriptures and religious tracts for more than a year; and 
iheir experience, extending to many Grecian islands,—to Smyrna, 
and a circuit of 300 miles embracing six out of the Seven Churches, 
and to Jerusalem itself;—had furnished them with no instance of a 
Bible or tracts being refused by either Greeks or Armenians. In 
numerous instances, they had distributed tracts to Archbishops, 
Bishops, and the inferior clergy; and these gifts had uniformly 
been received with expressions of gratitude. Bishops had fre- 
quently given assurance, that the tracts committed to their charge, 
should be distributed among the clergy and the schools. Chil- 
dren, in great multitudes, belonging to numerous schools, and in 
many different places, had received tracts with the utmost eager- 
ness, and always with the approbation of their instructors. The 
agent of the patriarch of Jerusalem, having been most actively 
engaged in the distribution of the Scriptures, gave Mr. Parsons to 
understand, that he should readily co-operate with American Cliris- 
tians in exertions to do good. The Bishops, on whom Mr. Parsons 
called to take his leave, when about to return to Smyrna from the 
Holy City, expressed an affectionate desire, “that they might soon 
see him there again.” In regard to the part, which our churches 
are beginning to take, with a view to communicate spiritual 
blessings to the people of Western Asia, Dr. Naudi thus expresses 
himself, in a letter to Mr. Fisk: “From the religious publications of 
America, which I am just now reading, I observe with admira- 
tion, and,my friends here do the same, that Providence has im- 
pressed on the minds of so many in the New World the necessity 
of new missionary labors, for the diffusion of the pure Gospel, in 
ihese parts of the Old World, left so long in a state of barbarism.” 

The character of Dr. Naudiis known, as the active, intelligent, 
and zealous agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and 
from his post of observation at Malta, he is under the best advan- 
iages to form a candid and dispassionate judgment. 

You need noi hesitate, my dear Sir, to consider it as settled, 
that there is work enough to be done by faithful missionaries in 
Western Asia;—that the fields are now white for the harvest;— 
and that Christians of this country, and you among the rest, are 
bound to engage in the holy undertaking. Your eyes have been 
fixed on this scene of labor; you have longed to put in the sickle, 


33 


and fill your arms with the sheaves. As yougird yourself for the 
work, take courage from the declaration of the Savior; He that 
reapeth recetveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that 
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 

In offering these suggestions, the Committee purposely avoid 
several topics of prime importance, which were urged with great 
ability, tenderness, and force, by the late Corresponding Secretary, 
in the Instructions delivered in this sanctuary, to your fellow- 
laborers, whose names have been mentioned. You will consider 
the document here referred to not less applicable to your case, 
than to that of your brethren; and will preserve it as a most valua- 
ble directory of your general conduct, and a precious memoria! of 
that eminent man, and distinguished director of missions, by whom 
it was composed. 

In discharging your sacred commission as an evangelist, you 
will always bear in mind, that preaching the Gospel is the highest 
part of your employment, the chief thing for which the Christian 
ministry was instituted. You will earnestly desire to see the day, 
when you can preach the unsearchable riches of Christ publicly, 
and from house to house. Should it not be the will of your Divine 
Master and Lord, that you ever enjoy this privilege in its fullest 
extent, you will strive to prepare the way for successors who may 
enjoy it. Inthe mean time, Christ may be faithfully preached in 
various ways, beside in the regular and public congregation. As 
you read the Scriptures with inquirers of different nations, you will 
have an opportunity of explaining and enforcing the doctrine of 
that Savior, of whom Moses and the prophets did write. When 
you visit schools, you can direct the active minds of the young to 
that great Instructor, who, while on earth, manifested so tender an 
interest in the welfare of children. When you receive the hospi- 
tality of foreign countries, you will study to convey saving truth 
to the hearts of your kind entertainers, and to introduce them to 
the fellowship of the’ saints, and make them members of the 
household of faith. 

Should the effect of your labors be scarcely apparent for a con- 
siderable time, still be not discouraged. You know in whom you 
have believed. His commands and his promises are sufficient. 
From these perennial fountains you may always draw consolation: 
You will consider, also, that in the common operations of Divine 
Providence, the greatest results are produced from small begin- 


i) 


7 34 


nings. [f we are deterred from entering on a good work, merely 
because the immediate effect is not likely to correspond with our 
‘wishes, how manifest is it, that, on this principle, nothing could 
ever be done by human agency to meliorate the condition of man? 
If we can now be excused from attempting to preach the Gospel 
among a heathen and barbarous people, merely because the be- 
ginning must be small, and the progress not so rapid as we could 
desire, the same excuse would always be valid, and the nations 
must be left in a state of hopeless guilt, degradation and misery. 
Corrupt and ignorant communities never reform themselves; but, 
when God has mercy in store for them, He sends them unexpect- 
ed aid from abroad. ; 
Let it then, my dear Sir, be a cheering thought with you, even 
in the darkest hours, that to your mission may be granted the 
distinguished honor of commencing a revival of genuine religion, 
even in Jerusalem, whence the glory of Israel has so long been 
departed;—that by your instrumentality a flame of pure devotion 
may be enkindled among the dying embers of many ancient altars; 
and that the proposal to send the Gospel from this country to Pal- 
estine may hereafter be commemorated, as the first in a series of 
connected operations, which opened western Asia fo the labors of - 
missionaries, and was followed by the triumphs of the cross 
throughout the wide extent of these interesting regions. How 
glorious a consummation; and how suited, even in distant prospect, 
to nerve the arm for labor, and to fortify the mind against suffer- 
ing. Delightful anticipation of churches again flourishing on pa- 
triarchal ground; of Jews renouncing their hereditary unbelief, 
and Gentiles their hereditary superstitions, and both uniting in the 
highest ascriptions of praise to their common Master and Lord. HH 
As a legitimate motive to diligence and fidelity, you may often 
reflect on the expectations of your Christian brethren at home, 
from the mission to which you willbelong. It is the child of many 
prayers. On its progress many eyes will be fixed. Its history 
will be read with strong emotion;—with tears of bitter lamenta- 
tion should it fail;—with tears of grateful joy should it prove a 
messenger of peace fo the various people, for whom itis design- 
ed. This the first Protestant mission ever sent fo the Holy Land, 
or to any part of Western Asia; and Mr. Parsons is the first Pre- 
testant missionary, who ever visited Jerusalem, with the inten- 
tion of making it the seat of his own evangelical exertions. This 


35 


he has done; and, after a three months residence, pronounces the 
station exceedingly important and desirable. 

It has been intimated, in the course of these suggestions, that 
you will spend your life as a missionary, in that part of the world 
to which you are destined. By this intimation the Committee do 
not intend, that there are no causes, which can justify you in re- 
turning to this country. A voyage may be necessary to preserve 
life; a return may be useful to the cause. Sill, the probability is, 
that a faithful and devoted missionary will leave his mortal remains 
ata distance from his native Jand, and will rise. to heaven from 
the scene of his immediate labors. You will not be solicitous, 
whether you find a grave on the shores of the Mediterranean, or 
the Caspian, at the foot of Caucasas, or Ararat, or in the hill- 
country of Judea; but you will be deeply anxious to have a part 
inthe resurrection of the just. 

While you take every prudent and proper mean to preserve 
life and health, you will consider it an honor to labor and to die 
in the service of Christ. There are persons, who think it wrong 
for missionaries to be exposed in unhealthy climates, or to the 
danger of travelling in barbarous countries. For the sake of gain 
itis lawful, according to the morality of the world, to enter the 
very jaws of destruction; and thousands will stand ready to ap- 
plaud the meritorious hardihood of the deed. But to expose 
one’s life for the salvation of an immortal soul, ora countless mul- 
titude of souls;—this is rashness, madness, folly. So judges the 
world; but so thought not Mills,or Martyn. So thought not Paul, 
when he said, “I count not my life dear unto myself, so that | might 
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received 
of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God;” or 
when he declared, that he was ready “‘to die at Jerusalem for the 
name of the Lord Jesus.” 

The world admires that spirit of enterprize, which makes men. 
willing to expose their lives for the sake of enlarging the bound- 
aries of science, or even of gratifying curiosity. One traveller 
may brave the scorching sun of the Delta to measure pyramids 
and obelisks, or to take drawings of ancient temples; and another 
may run the hazard of suffocation, amid the accumulated dust of 
three thousand years, while endeavoring to obtain some rare ob- 
ject, which shall bring him profit or reputation: All this the 
avorld approves. But shall Burckhardt the traveller be applaud” 


36 


ed, who perished when preparing to explore the interior of 
Africa, for the purpose of explaining a geographical paradox? and 
shall Burkhardt the missionary be accused of rashness, because 
he fell while attempting to make known to others that precious 
Gospel, on which all his own hopes and the hopes of mankind 
were reposed?* 

The missionary need not be afraid to trust his life, and all his 
interests, in the hands of his Savior. There should be no misgiy- 
ings as to the nature of his employment;—its acceptableness to 
God, its importance to man. This employment is indeed the 
highest, in which mortals are permitted to engage. A just con- 
sideration of its design should lead you, my dear Sir, to preserve 
the genuine dignity of the missionary character. This you will 
do, not by desiring or expecting distinctions in the view of the 
world; but by imitating the meekness and gentleness, the patience 
and forbearance, the boldness and intrepidity, the zeal for God and 
love for the souls of men, which were perfectly exemplified in the 
life of Christ. , } 

You will often be reminded of the voyages, and perils, of the 
great Apostle of the Gentiles, whose labors have rendered for ever 
memorable many places, on which your eyes will dwell with pe- 
culiar interest. Let the history of bis efforts and sacrifices,—of 
the unceasing activity and energy, with which he promoted 
the cause of his Lord, operate as a perpetual incentive to industry, 
to perseverance, and to a reliance on the same power and good- 
ness which sustained him. Should you at any time be tempted to 
despondency, think of the triumphant faith which he exhibited in 
the severest trials;—to indolence, meditate on his ceaseless care 
of the churches amidst painful journeyings, and intense labors;— 
to unfaithfulness, remember his frequent and solemn reference to 
that day, when he, and you, and every other missionary, must ren- 
der an account to God. 


? John Lewis Burckhardt, a traveller of great enterprize, died at Cairo, Oct. 
1817, just as he was about commencing an exploring tour into the interior of 
Africa, with a particular design of ascertaining the course of the Niger. 

The Rev. Christopher Burkhardt travelled in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria 
for the express purpose of distributing the Holy Scriptures; and died at Aleppo, 
Aug. 1818. 


37 


Should you faint and be discouraged;—should you neglect the 
great business on which you are sent, the places which witness- 
ed the sufferings and the fidelity of the Apostle will testify against 
you. The strand of Malta, where he was wrecked, and on which 
you will first set your feet after leaving this harbor;—the dark, 
wintry waves of the Mediterranean, where he spent a night and 
a day in the deep;—the coast of the Levant, from Troas to Mile- 
tus and thence onward to Tyre, where, in so many different places, 
and with so much holy importunity, he prayed with converted 
Greeks, and exhorted them to perseverance, will testify against 
you. 

It can never be too deeply fixed in your mind, that it is by emi- 
nent attainments in Christian virtue, rather than by the splendor 
of intellectual endowments, the fascination of eloquence, or the 
eclat of learning,that missionaries may expect to become the favor- 
ed ministers of grace from on high. Though you may “earnestly 
covet” those “best gifts,” which answer so many valuable pur- 
poses, you are to be principally anxious concerning that “more 
excellent way,” that progress in holiness,—that genuine love to 
God and man,—without which all other acquisitions will be a 
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 

At this hour of parting, both you and we are admonished to be 
active and diligent during the days allotted us. Missionaries and 
their patrons and directors must soon finish their work, and leave 
in other hands the cause which they love. 

In the course of the year which is now drawing to a close, the 
wisest, the most experienced, and the most devoted agent* of this 
cause, with whose counsels and services our missions have been 
favored, has been removed from the midst of us. And now the 
intelligence is brought from afar, that one of the first,} who left our 
shores to bear the tidings of salvation to the heathen, is summoned 
hence with scarcely a moment’s warning. Other efficient help- 
ers, in different departments of the work, have also been taken 
away from their labors. 

To every friend of missions, truly and ardently desirous of doing 
his Heavenly Father’s will, these solemn dispensations should bring 
home, with peculiar force, two lessons of instruction: One is, that 
the time of discharging the highest agency, of which we can form 


* The Rey. Dr. WorcxstTer. + The Rey. Samues Newenrz. 


36 
any adequate conception, that of intreating sinners to be reconciled 
to God, is exceedingly short:—the other, that every faithful ser- 
vant will soon be in possession of his reward. “Behold,” says our 
Savior, “I come quickly, and my reward is with me.” 

That you, my dear Sir, may, through divine grace, participate 
abundantly in the glorious recompense of those, who have turned 
many to righteousness, we shall not cease to pray, while we aflec- 
tionately commend you and your message to the favor of God. 


Jenemian Evarts, Secretary. 
Boston, Dec. 16, 1821. 


PALESTINE MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 


Mr. Trempte was received as a missionary in the autumn of 1820, 
He had for several years contemplated offering himself for this ser- 
vice, when his theological course at Andover should be completed; 
and this intention had been known to the Committee. The field of 
Jabor, on which his mind had long dwelt with particular interest, was 
Asia Minor, Palestine, and the neighboring regions; and to this 
field he was assigned, with the expectation that he would enter 
it, as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made. In the 
mean time, he was employed as an agent to preach on the subject 
of missions, and to raise funds for the Board. While performing 
this agency, in the winter and spring of the present year, he visited 
all the towns in Plymouth county, and many in the adjoining coun- 
ties; and was most kindly and cordially received, both by the 
clergy, and the people. 

In consequence of becoming acquainted with Mr. Temple, and 
his intended mission, it was proposed by friends of the missionary 
cause, that an auxiliary society should be formed, with a view to 
the support of a missionary in Palestine orits vicinity. A meeting 


39 


was accordingly held at Weymouth, on the 20th of June, at which 
the contemplated society was formed. It may be useful, in con- 
nection with the preceding Sermon and Instructions, to publish 
the constitution. 


CONSTITUTION. 


Art. I, This Society shall be called The Palestine Missionary 
Society. 

Art. If. The specific object of this Society shall be to sup- 
port one Missionary, (who shall be approved by the Society,) in 
Palestine or its vicinity, under the direction of the American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 

Arr. III. Should the annual subscriptions and donations of the 
Society amount to a sum more than sufficient to support one Mis- 


sionary, the surplus shall be appropriated to aid in the education of 


Jewish children under the direction of the Palestine mission. 

Arr. lV. Any gentleman or lady, on subscribing this Constitu- 
tion, and engaging to pay annually into the treasury such q sum as 
he or she shall specify, shall be a member of this Society. And 
any gentleman on subscribing and paying twenty dollars, and .any 
lady on subscribing and paying ten dollars, shall be a member of 
this Society for life. 

Art. V. The Officers of this Society shall be a President, two 
Vice Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Auditor, and one or 
more directors in each Parish embraced by the Society. 

Arr. VI. The officers of this Society shall be chosen annually; 
the President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer, by bal- 
lot; the others by nomination. 


Arr. VIL. Itshall be the duty of the Secretary to act both as 


recording and corresponding Secretary, and to exhibit reports to 
the Society. 

Arr, VIII. Itshall be the duty of the directors to solicit and re- 
ceive subscriptions and donations, and pay the same into the 
Treasury. 

Ant. IX. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep an ac- 
count of monies or other articles received by him, to transmit the 
same semi-annually to the Treasurer of the American Board for 
the purpose specified in Art. II. and to report annually to this So- 
ciety. And it shall be the duty of the Auditor to examine the 


‘ 


40 


Treas urer’s accounts, and report on the same to the Society at 
each annual meeting. 

Art. X. .This Society shall meet annually on the third Wed- 
nesday in June, at such place as they shall previously appoint, for 


the purpose of choosing officers, and transacting such business ax 


may come before them. 

Arr. XI. The Secretary, by order of the President, may call a 
special meeting, by notifying one director in each parish, who 
shall cause the same to be made public therein accordingly. _ 

Arr. XII. Each meeting of the Society shall be opened and 
closed with prayer by the President, or some one by him de- 
signated. 

Arr. XIII. Ateach annual meeting, a sermon shall be deliver- 


ed, by some one previously appointed by the Society, anda er ; 


read by the Secretary. 

Arr. XIV. After the sermon and report, a contribution shall 
be received in aid of the Society’s funds. 

Art. XV. This Constitution may be altered or amended, by 
the vote of two thirds of the members present at an annual 
meeting. 


The following gentlemen were then chosen officers of the 
Society for the current year. 


Eurrnatet Loup, Esq. President, 
Rev. A. Ricumonp, 
Mr. Sera Hunt, 

Rey. Jonas Perxins, Secretary, 


Vice Presidents, 


Dr. Esenezer Aupen, Treasurer, and St 


Mr. Suas Paine, jr. Auditor. 
Directors were also chosen in the several towns in the vicinity. 


. Dt ae 


877 


